Go Figure

I don't have words yet. Brain cells - gone. Heart - happy. Joy - full.

Busy Week

I am so sad that I haven't had time to blog this week. It has been a crazy one so far. It's GMA Week (Gospel Music Association), and I have been busy with that...interviews and shmoozy meetings. It is pretty exhausting. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the last day, with the week culminating with the Dove Awards. I am nominated again this year in the same category as last year - Musical of the Year. It is for a musical I wrote with David Moffitt and Sue C. Smith, called Everything Glorious. I am also presenting an award (but I don't know which one). That feels weird...I don't really know why they asked me to present an award. Seems like they should ask all the cool rocker dudes or something. Oh well...maybe I'm representin' my peeps of the generations of Christian music gone by. Grin. I'll let you know if I have any funny stories...like if I mispronounce some rock band or something like that.

This pic is of my kids before church on Sunday. Good grief...I am crazy about these younguns.

Concert This Sunday

If you're in the Nashville area, come to Thompson Station Church this Sunday night. Our choir is doing their spring concert (a night of worship). I am going to be singing a few songs, too. Also singing is Melissa Greene, from Avalon. She also sings in our choir.

It's going to be a fun night worshipping Jesus. I might have to pull out an oldie but a goodie, if I'm feeling a little rambunctious...be on the lookout out for a great story from the Old Testament...

The concert begins at 6:30pm.

I'm going back to watch the rest of Peter Pan with Levi now. What a great movie...even if it is the 6th time we've watched it since Easter!

Goodbye-a Sanjaya

It finally happened. And America is breathing a sigh of relief.

Sanjaya is gone. And I have to confess, I didn't see it coming tonight. I thought Lakeesha was a goner for sure. But I stand corrected.

I am so excited that Melinda has such an amazing week - again - even on country week! She is a near-perfect singer. Jordin, too, is coming into her own. I dig her performances. Blake had a little bit of an off night. But I still think he is headed for at least the top 3.

OK, so I have been in la-la land since the weekend. The cross-country trip just about did me in. But I am finally coming out of my funk, and I am back in the land of the living.

I am excited to be home all week - driving carpool, making Saturday plans, singing in the choir on Sunday morning. Fun times for this home-body.

I intend to blog something more extensive (and not this fluffy) soon. But my body is still trying to generate more brain cells to help me in my hard-weekend-recovery. To my friends and family who read this - no brain cells comments from you.

Living Proof Live Columbia, SC

Awesome weekend. Awesome God. Awesome in His Word. More to say later.

For those of you asking, our song list for the weekend is posted on the journal page of my website.

Have a great Monday!

Almost Home!

I am at the Columbia, SC airport, on my way home with the praise team from the Living Proof event. What an awesome event it was!

Yea for the Columbia airport having free wireless.

I can't wait to get home and see my family! I will write more later about the great weekend.

TC

Half-Way Through

I am half-way through a trip that I have dreaded for a long time. Now, I have NOT dreaded WHAT I am doing. I am doing what I love the most on this trip - leading worship. But I have been dreading the actual travel schedule. I left Nashville Thursday morning at 7:30 and got to California at 1pm. I sang at MusiCalifornia last night (a concert and a premiere of a music project I arranged), and got on a plane right after the concert ended. So I was in California for a total of 8 hours. I flew back across the country through the night, and am now on a layover in Atlanta (it's 6am on Friday right now). I am headed to Columbia, SC for a Living Proof Live event. I cannot wait for Living Proof tonight!!!

We had a great time at MusiCalifornia last night. I got to worship with a bunch of worship pastors, their wives and husbands and staff. We had a sweet time. There are few things I love more in music ministry than the privilege of serving those who are servants. Music ministers are frontline warriors, I tell you. And when they come to these conferences, I want them to receive every bit of encouragement and refreshment possible, because it is so rare that they are able to get away.

Attending the conference was one of my best friends in the world - Benji Cowart. Benji is the worship pastor at The Chapel in Buffalo, NY. Benji and his wife Jenna, Angela and I used to sing and lead together all the time before they left Nashville for ministry purposes. It was great to hang with him. Thanks for ironing my shirt, Benji!

Pray for us in Columbia, SC tonight. Jesus, come and be huge!

Reaping and Sowing

Angela and I had to be at church at 7am yesterday. We sang for all three services at our church. It was a long day, but it was a lot of fun. We love our church, and yesterday was an awesome day.

All that to say, after church, we were exhausted. We came home, had a quick lunch, said goodbye to Angela's family who came in for the weekend, and then set out to relax. I sat on the couch with Lily Kate, because she wanted to take pictures with the Photo Booth on my Mac. Well, after sitting with her for a while, I sort of dozed off. OK, well I guess I full on fell asleep. I woke up an hour or more later and continued on the rest of the afternoon and evening. Later on, after putting the kids to bed, I was on my computer and I started looking through all the pictures Lily Kate took when she was playing (she took over 200 pictures). And then, I got to these jewels...and realized then that my six year-old had been mocking me while I was asleep!!! And she even did it with special effects. Ouch. I'm in trouble.

What is it they say about the apple not falling far from the tree...

Can you bear this joy?

It's cold this Easter, but I'm feeling batter already.

Happy Ice-ster

Hope your Easter weekend is awesome and God-filled, even if it is cold!

We have had a great weekend. Yesterday, we had Jack's 10 year birthday party. Pirates were in abundance.





I have to say, my wife can throw one heck of a party. She had so many great things for the kids. They made pirate head-dresses and had a killer scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt brought Angela to a melt-down point though, when she realized right when the kids were arriving that the clues for the hunt were all one location off from the correct location. But after some quick work (and some inetnse scavenger hunt prayer), everything was fixed and the hunt was awesome.

Today our church had their annual huge easter egg hunt - The Easter Eggstravaganza. It was fun. But it was COLD. COLD. COLD. The kids had a blast. And the parents walked around in a windchiller factor daze, looking at each other like, "What are we doing here?" But the kids loved it, and spent the rest of the day in a sugar coma.

Happy Easter!

Thanks, Beth!

Never Underestimate The Power Of A Modifier

It feels like it has been so long since I have written...it is good to be back to the ol' blogging board. I was out Friday and Saturday on a field trip with Jack's class (which I mentioned earlier), and out for most of Sunday at church and at Jack's bible drill competition (which I also mentioned earlier). Today has been a good day of getting caught up on some things, going to the gym, celebrating passover with the family, and wrapping up work on a Christmas musical I have been working on for a couple of months. It feels so good for it to be done.

So, the field trip was great fun. The fourth graders from Jack's class went on a trip to St. Meinrad - a monastery in Southern Indiana. It was a very interesting trip to me. I loved learning more about the Catholic faith, and about the monastic tradition, neither of which I have had much experience with. The peacefulness of the lifestyle and the meneaningfulness of the traditions, practices and liturgies were appealing to me. Sometimes I think those of us who grew up with no liturgical background have missed out on a powerful practice. It was nice to join in for the weekend.
Can you pick my son out in this lineup??


Jack's bible drill went great. It was the associational level. He passed, and now moves on to the state competition in two weeks. The funny thing is he just started bible drill in January. He told us he didn't even want to compete in it this year because he missed so many practices and classes. So Angela and I didn't even go to the first round of competition, which was a week ago...we didn't know he was going to jump in and do it. Well, he jumped in and did it. And we were heathen parents not even at church that night! We, of course, didn't miss the associational round Sunday, and are so proud of him for giving so much!

OK, so last week, a friend told me to take Angela out for the day, and she was going to take care of the kids. So we went out. We went to lunch together. And we went shopping for rugs. Someone gave us a huge gift certificate for this great rug store when we moved into this house, and we went to spend it that day. So we spent a lot of time there. Then we went to the mall. And I am thinking what a great husband I am, because I have just spent 2 hours looking at rugs. I mean, come on, that deserves some points, right? So, we are in the mall. We are having a great time looking for some cheap Easter clothes for our kids. We score big time at The Gap and at Children's Place. (Is there anything more southern than the mindset that Easter Sunday is a day for new clothes? That is a southern thing, right? I still remember many an uncomfortable suit and tie when I was little...and the trouble I got in scarfing down that big hollow chocolate bunny and wiping my hands on my new white blazer.)

I didn't mean to chase that tangent.

So, after we shop for the kids, Angela sees a dress in a window that she likes. In an effort to encourage her to treat herself to this nice dress, I say, "Go try it on. I would love to see you in a dress."

Oops.

I meant, I would love to see you in THAT dress. That dress! THAT THAT THAT THAT THAT THAT THAT. Not A dress. THAT dress.

It was too late.

Ladies, before you hang me out to dry, you must know that nowhere in my mind did I even ponder for a second that I wanted to imply to my wife that I never see her dressed nicely. Honestly, it was a slip of the tongue. A modifier error. A sentence structure problem. My wife is a babe. And a fashionable babe at that. She ALWAYS looks good. (Angela was a good sport. And ten minutes later, she deemed it a definite bloggable moment.)

Fellas - listen to me. Never underestimate the power of a modifier in your sentences. Never.
: >)